1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of housing assemblies for electronic equipment. More particularly this invention relates to a modular assembly which may be either stand-alone or rack mounted.
2. Background of the Invention
It is commonplace in many fields of electronics to require a plurality of circuit cards to mate together in various configurations to enable the circuit cards to share a common power supply. In many instances it is also desirable for the circuit cards to be able to communicate with one another or with the outside world. This goal is typically achieved by providing a traditional fixed card cage which contains a power supply and which has a plurality of slots with connectors wired to a back plane. The various circuit cards can then slide into the slots and mate with an appropriate connector in the backplane in order to access the common power supply and communicate with each other and the outside world. Typically, such conventional card cages have a built in power supply to power each of the cards.
However, this concept has a number of drawbacks. For example, typically the circuit cards used in this configuration are substantially unprotected from possible damage from handling and exposure to dust and foreign material. That is, when a circuit card is removed, its electronic components are exposed and easily damaged by contact with sources of static electricity or other undesirable forces. Moreover, it is difficult to provide adequate air circulation to properly cool the electronic components while simultaneously providing protection of the circuit cards by the card cage. In addition, such card cages are typically of fixed size accepting for example 8 or 16 circuit cards. Thus, even if only one circuit card or a small number of circuit cards are used, the entire card cage is needed, unduly occupying valuable space.
The present invention significantly improves upon the prior art in these respects and others.